Mies van der Rohe (1886 – 1969)

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe    fot. © Estate of Yousuf Karsh

(notatki i tłumaczenia tekstów z j.angielskiego)

Mies van der Rohe found the same answer for every question.

O budynkach średniowiecznych w Akwizgranie (Aachen) 

All the great styles passed, but they were still there. They didn’t loose anything and they were still as good as on the day they were built. They were medieval buildings, not with any special character, but they were really built.

O uprzemysłowieniu budownictwa, o nowej technologii, materiałach, o przyszłości

The problem before us is not the realization of the present methods, but rather a revolution in the whole nature of the building industry. The nature of the building process will not change as long as we employ essentially the same building materials, for they require hand labour. Industrialization of the process of construction is a question of materials. Our first consideration, therefore must be to find a new building material. Our technologists must and will succeed in inventing a material which can be industrially manufactured and processed and which will be weatherproof, soundproof and insulating. It must be a light material, which not only permits but requires industrial production. All the parts will be made in a factory and the work on the site will consist only of assemblage, requiring extremely few men-hours. This will greatly reduce building costs. Then the new architecture will come into its own.

I am convinced that traditional methods of construction will disappear. In case anyone regrets that the house of the future can no longer be made by hand workers, it should be borne in mind that the automobile is no longer manufactured by carriage makers.

Space, amplitude and a comfortable relationship among the parts – unity, order, form – were his basic requirements. A lack of order in any part hurt him.

 

Museum for a Small City / Muzeum dla Małego Miasta

In this project one is hardly aware of architecture. Where the presentation of art was concerned he felt that they should have complete priority. Architectural details, fantasies in installation or lighting that might even slightly distract the observer’s attention from the works of art were inadmissible. The only features he permitted were open space and a sensibility in its division. The relative ‘absence of architecture’, as he put it, intensifies the individuality of each work of art and at the same time incorporates it into the entire design.

O budynkach drewnianych

Where can we find greater structural clarity than in the wooden buildings of the old?

Where can we find such unity of material, construction and form? What feeling for material and what power of expression there is in these buildings. What warmth and beauty they have.

  

O cegle / About a brick

Now a brick – that is really something. How sensible is this small, handy shape, so useful for every purpose! What logic in its bonding, pattern and texture! What richness in the simplest wall surface! But what discipline this material imposes!

O dyscyplinie i formie:

DISCIPLINE, ORDER, FORM = truth in architecture.

Form is not an aim for architect – it’s result of his work.

SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE

To attack everything with reason. 

About a house:

I would not like to live in a cubical house with a lot of small rooms. I would rather live on a bench in Hyde Park.

I would build a simple but very large house, so that I can do inside what I like. (as the Japanese do in their houses – changing things around occasionally)

O edukacji architektonicznej:

Mies van der Rohe postrzegał nauczanie jako stymulant – dzięki niemu był zmuszony wyklarować swoje idee, by móc ich nauczać. Uczenie pozwalało mu pracować nad ogólnymi problemami architektonicznymi. Wiedział z doświadczenia, że rozmyślanie nad architekturą podczas pracy nad aktualnym budynkiem nie zdaje egzaminu. To myślenie musi odbyć się wcześniej.

The function of education is to lead us from irresponsible opinion to truly responsible judgement and since s building is a work and not a notion, a method of work, a way of doing should be the essence of architectural education.

He was convinced that a student should not be expected to design a building before he had assimilated the basic tools of his work.

Everything should be guided by reason in order that one is kept on the right track. Some people do not think of reason in connection with architecture – they forget that a brick wall is a very reasonable affair.

Zrozumienie nauki, technologii i innych znaczących sił, które mają wpływ na naszą epokę, kształtują ją.

Brak kierunku szkół architektonicznych, chaos. Nie brak entuzjazmu i talentu.

I believe that in architecture you must deal with construction. When the structure is refined and when it becomes an expression of the essence of our time, it will then and only then become architecture. Every building has its position in a strata – every building is not a cathedral. Those are facts which should be understood and taught. It takes discipline to restrain oneself. I have many times thought this or that would be a wonderful idea, only to overrule this impulse by a method of working and thinking.

If our schools could get to the root of the problem and develop within the student a clear method of working we should have then given him a worthwhile five years. But five years is a very short time when you remember that in most cases these are the most formative years to architect.

 

At least two things should be accomplished; mastery of the tools of his profession and the development of a clear direction. Now it is quite impossible to accomplish the latter when the school itself is not clear.

O indywidualności w architekturze:
To try to express individuality in architecture is a complete misunderstanding, and today most of our schools either intentionally or unintentionally let their students leave with the idea that to do a good building means to do a different building, and they are not different, they are just bad.

O biurowcach:
The office building is a house of work, of organization, of clarity, of economy;

Broad, light workspace, unbroken, but articulated according to the organization of the work; Maximum effect with minimum means.

O nowych formach:

Instead of trying to solve the New problems with old forms, we should develop the New forms from the very nature of the new problems.

Zamiast próbować rozwiązać nowe problemy za pomocą starych form, powinniśmy opracować nowe formy – wynikające z natury nowych problemów. 

O projekcie szklanego wieżowca dla Berlina:
At first glance the shape may look arbitrary;

Factors:

-sufficient illumination of the interior;

-the massing of the building viewed from the street;

-play of reflections;

Por.

Tugendhat House, Brno – lowerable glass wall;

OMA: Casa Bordeaux – movable floor;

Lilly Reich + Mies van der Rohe

Malarz (Mondrian) wyposażył go w ogólny przestrzenny ideał.

(…) było i jest wielu innych architektów – zwłaszcza wśród młodszej generacji – którzy do dziś nie są w stanie wyzwolić się spod potężnego oddziaływania tej kunsztownej struktury. Większość domów zbudowanych przez Paula Rudolpha na Florydzie w latach czterdziestych i wczesnych pięćdziesiątych była wariacją na temat Barcelony; biuro zaprojektowane przez Ieoh Ming Pei dla Williama Zeckendorfa na dachu domu przy Madison Avenue jest w części niemal repliką pawilonu z roku 1929, podobnie jak detale placu u stóp Mile High Centre w Denver, Colorado, też według projektu Pei. W Los Angeles ciesząca się powodzeniem firma architektoniczna zrobiła niemal dokładną kopię pawilonu z Barcelony, wykończoną tynkiem i blachą aluminiową, i umieściła tam swoje biura. Barceloński pawilon kopiowano jako całość lub częściami stale i wszędzie, od Tokio do Sztokholmu, w tanich i drogich materiałach.

Firma Skidmore Owings and Merrill budowała domy bardziej ‘miesowskie’, niż robił to sam Mies.

opracował:
Tomasz Sachanowicz
www.slabpracownia.pl

bibliografia: 
Peter Carter, 'Mies Van Der Rohe At Work', Phaidon Press, 1999 
Peter Blake, ‘Mies van der Rohe – architektura i struktura’, WAiF, Warszawa 1991